Serious halibut bycatch number

Data from the International Pacific Halibut Commission indicates charter halibut anglers fishing from ports in Cook Inlet and the northern Gulf of Alaska could wind up catching fewer of the big flatfish than are wasted in the commercial halibut fishery next year if a plan recommended by the National Marine Fisheries Service becomes law.

Fraser endures shoreline seines

All along the river in the Chilliwack area were large-scale shoreline net fishing operations, many with piles of dead fish rotting in the sun on the beaches, hundreds of dead fish drifting in the shallows, in some cases hundreds of yards downstream from the netting location.

Bering crabbers' executive director

The Board of Directors of Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers is pleased to announce that Mark Gleason has been selected as the new executive director of the organization, effective Oct. 3.

Mark comes to the crabbers from Ocean Peace, a Seattle-based trawl company. In addition to serving as the government affairs representative for the company, Gleason sits on the North Pacific Research Board Advisory Panel and serves as chairman of the Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning Committee for the Marine Conservation Alliance.

Prior to working with Ocean Peace, Gleason was a Sea Grant Marine Policy Fellow in the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries and Coast Guard.

Gleason holds a master's degree in marine policy from the University of Washington School of Marine Affairs and an undergraduate degree from California State University, Monterey Bay. In addition, he has fished commercially in Alaska and California, including 11 seasons in Bristol Bay.

The current executive director, Edward Poulsen, is expected to continue working with the organization, working on the five-year review and crab science-related issues.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

HALIBUT BYCATCH PROBLEM

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council is looking at reductions in the allocation to groundfish fisheries in the Gulf of Alaska which catch halibut as bycatch. These trawl and longline fisheries are currently allowed to catch and kill over 5 million pounds of halibut each year.

Cal skipper credits crew in fire

Fraser collapse: Not enough research

Senior officials from the Department of Fisheries have testified that one of the key questions facing the Cohen Commission – whether fish farms could have spread disease to wild salmon – has not been adequately researched.

Apology to Kenai fish

We have over-fished you and we have badly mismanaged you. As sport fishermen, are we sorry – probably. Will we do anything about it before it's to late – probably not. At least not as long as the last vestiges of your species remains the focus of our almighty tourism dollar.

Congress must stop deep-sea farming

It's not every summer that a fish lands on the cover of TIME Magazine. But that's just what happened this July, signaling that the future of our nation's fisheries has become a pressing issue to be seriously debated among the federal government, environmental and consumer groups and of course, fishermen.

Another Hood Canal fish kill?

Irrigators take page from tobacco

The agribusiness oligarchs of the western San Joaquin are at it again. blog.sfgate.com. This time they've taken a page from the Big Tobacco and Big Coal playbook by using pseudo-science to undermine solid data they find inconvenient.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

TRIDENT TO PAY $2.5 MILLION FINE

A Seattle-based seafood company will pay a $2.5 million civil penalty to settle allegations that it violated clean water law at processing plants in Alaska, the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the Justice Department announced.

NOAA reconsiders Alaska halibut plan

A sigh of relief and a fair bit of skepticism about the future seemed to be the reaction of Alaska halibut charter operators as they heard news that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Fisheries Service was reconsidering a plan to crack down on their harvests.

Gillnetter rips Columbia seines

Fearing eventual elimination of their livelihood, Columbia River gillnetters have ripped Washington and Oregon officials over a program to test seines and other alternative commercial salmon fishing methods.

Fishermen oppose Cal otter measure

Commercial fishermen and representatives of the seafood industry spoke against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's proposed rule change that would end the official "no otter zone" prohibiting sea otters south of Pt. Conception. Members of conservation groups spoke in favor of it.

B.C. stiffs Fraser panel

After sitting for 125 days, listening to the testimony of 173 witnesses and receiving nearly 2,000 exhibits, the Cohen Commission has ended its evidentiary hearings in Vancouver on an ironic note – with the federal government refusing to release a key piece of evidence.

N. Pacific Council talks sea lions

While bycatch of halibut in the Gulf of Alaska and the rebuilding of the Pribilof Islands' king crab stock are the biggest issues at the meeting, the status of Steller sea lion management received some discussion this morning.

Big donor in Pebble fight

Are Alaskans eating fish?

Soon, if they haven't already, 1,500 Kenai Peninsula residences will receive a post card from the University of Alaska Fairbanks asking them to answer six questions like these as part of a new study about food security on the Kenai Peninsula.

Friday, September 30, 2011

PETA'S FISH FIGHT BACK

Sporties seek Kenai management

Kenai River Sportfishing Association is asking the Board of Fisheries to take up king salmon management outside the normal cycle in response to a late-run return that might have fallen below the lower end of escapement goals.

CDQ villages fight back

The appeal's authors contend Alaska, which holds six of the 11 voting seats on the council, has used its majority to the detriment of Oregon and Washington. And they focus on Alaska's growing Community Development Quota program to make their argument.

New fisheries gain MSC certifications

Since mid-May 2011, six fisheries in the Americas region, comprised of 13 Units of Certification, were certified. They include the largest volume fishery in Mexico, the Gulf of California sardine fishery. Also certified were the world's first spiny dogfish fishery and the world's first anchovy fishery – located in British Columbia and Argentina respectively.

Mark Begich on halibut plan

Announcement of a delay in the implementation of the halibut catch sharing plan will please some Alaskans and disappoint others but in the end there's a lot more work to be done on this longstanding, divisive issue and some tough decisions to be made in the interim.

CG medevacs fisherman

Alaska Fisheries Report

Coming up this week, we're focusing on one story: the events leading up to the downfall of Senator Lisa Murkowski's fisheries aide, Arne Fuglvog. We air Libby Casey's econo-size XXL version in two parts, and run with the item on Wesley Loy's Deckboss Blog about a potential replacement for Fuglvog in Murkowski's office.